This morning, I joined a 12-year-old Ugandan soccer star, a giant mosquito and the commissioner of Major League Soccer, among many others, for breakfast at the ESPN Zone in Times Square for the U.S. launch of the United Against Malaria campaign.

As covered before on the ONE Blog, United Against Malaria is an effort that aims to kick the world into high gear to beat malaria by leveraging soccer and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Like any good squad, United Against Malaria is fielding a versatile group of players, including soccer stars, government officials, celebrities, corporations and NGOs, including ONE.

Many people representing this diverse partnership were at today’s launch, but perhaps the biggest star was the smallest person in the room. Charles Ssali, a 12-year-old soccer player from Uganda, is the “global emissary” for United Against Malaria. Charles wears number five for his local youth team in Uganda and has played in tournaments as far away as Sweden and Denmark. Charles is also a malaria survivor and has seen the disease impact his community and friends firsthand. Ever since recovering from malaria at age four, Charles has slept under a bed net and told his friends to do the same. Now he’s taking the message that he tells his friends on the soccer fields of his native Uganda—that you can stop malaria with simple, effective solutions—all over the world with the United Against Malaria team.

In addition to today’s launch in New York City, Charles will be launching the effort in Brussels, Addis Ababa and Cape Town. When I talked to him after the event and told him that’s a lot of travel for a little guy, he flashed his big smile at me and said he’s really enjoying his first trip to New York City, he’s excited to travel to Brussels next, but he is most looking forward to Johannesburg, where he’ll see the World Cup.

Beyond Charles, other big names from the soccer world spoke this morning, including Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and Fox Soccer Channel’s lead announcer Max Bretos. Both discussed how the sport, probably the most popular in the world, and its biggest moment, the World Cup, have the potential to tap into a huge audience. It’s an audience—sports fans, youth soccer players, soccer moms and dads—who may not yet fully know the malaria story, but who have the potential to be passionate, engaged advocates once they see malaria can be beat.

From the NGO world, ONE’s own U.S. Executive Director Sheila Nix and Malaria No More’s Chairman Peter Chernin discussed how United Against Malaria can mobilize this new audience into effective political advocacy. The ultimate aim is to catalyze the world to reach the international target of reducing malaria deaths to near zero by 2015. It’s a goal that is within reach. Sheila and Peter pointed out the tremendous gains that have been achieved in just the last few years thanks to African leadership supported by effective U.S. and international efforts like the President’s Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund. Malaria rates have been slashed in countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia. But if we want to finish the deal and finally end deaths from malaria, these programs will need continued support. Sheila and Peter said United Against Malaria can play a pivotal role by making the connection clear for the public about how contacting your member of Congress to support effective programs will result in lives saved.

Finally, two more critical leaders, Ray Chambers, the United Nations’ Special Envoy for Malaria, and Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the United Methodist Church talked about how all this progress is being forged on the ground level in Africa with proven tools like bed nets, malaria treatment and better public awareness. Both spoke eloquently on the power of individuals such as Charles to make a difference in this fight, including both advocates like ONE members in the United States and community leaders in Africa raising awareness of effective prevention measures.

And now with United Against Malaria officially kicked off in the United States, there is only one thing missing from the team: you. The good news is that there are no tryouts (especially for me and my rusty soccer skills). All you need is a belief that in the next five years, deaths from malaria must end, and a voice to recruit your friends and press your elected officials. Be sure to follow the rest of Charles’s journey and join the United Against Malaria team at www.unitedagainstmalaria.com.

Ready to help kick malaria out of Africa? Then make sure to check out United Against Malaria’s (UAM) new website.

Soccer stars, foundations, governments, and corporations are all joining forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite against malaria. And don’t forget the NGOs, too, including UAM’s founding partners ONE, PATH, Malaria No More, Roll Back Malaria, Comic Relief, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Population Services International and the United Nations Foundation, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. By leveraging soccer—one of the most popular sports in the world—UAM aims to raise global awareness and renew worldwide commitment to ending malaria.

So what can you do to join in the cause? Visit the UAM website and sign the virtual soccer ball to show your support. Read all the latest news on the UAM blog (don’t miss the behind-the-scenes post with U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team Captain Landon Donovan), play the “World Cup Soccer Challenge: Kick Malaria” game on Facebook, even add a UAM twibbon (a colorful football) to the bottom of your twitter avatar. Check out their new site today!

Today, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria announced the largest single malaria initiative ever signed by the Global Fund, which will provide the resources for 30 million bed-nets in Nigeria. Each year, there are approximately 57 million cases of malaria in Nigeria, causing an estimated 225,000 deaths annually. Check out the full press release here.

As part of its efforts to eliminate malaria, Nigeria aims to place two bed nets in every household in the country by distributing 62 million bed nets by December 2010. Global Fund grants will provide half of this total. Other contributors include: the World Bank, DFiD, USAID, UNITAID, UNICEF and the Nigerian government.

“I am extremely pleased that our partnership with Nigeria continues to grow: it shows Nigeria’s strong commitment to fight malaria, and strengthens our relationship since Nigeria is also a Global Fund donor,” said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Nigeria is showing why reaching global targets for malaria is no longer fanciful but something that can actually be achieved,” he said.

The malaria grants signed today amount to US$ 285 million over two years. The Global Fund used a flexible approach by signing, in July 2009, an interim agreement to allow for the timely distribution of 3.4 millions bed nets, which have just arrived in country in time for the mass distribution campaign planned for December this year. Two other grants were also signed, one for tuberculosis for US$40 million and one for Health Systems Strengthening for US$55 million.

Remember to tune in to the season premiere of “Ugly Betty” tonight at 8 PM EST on ABC. The episode will feature Nothing But Nets and a plot-line involving the eradication of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Here’s a short interview with America Ferrera on this morning’s Good Morning America discussing the season premiere and Nothing But Nets. You can learn more about the episodehere.

Malaria No More’s blog “Buzzwords” picked up this story about a really innovative new way to provide malaria patients with easy access to life-saving anti-malarial medication– through cell phones and text messaging, of course.

Called “SMS for Life”, this pilot project is headed by Roll Back Malaria in collaboration with Vodafone and IBM and seeks to “harness everyday technology to eliminate stock-outs and improve access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa.” By using a combination of mobile phones, SMS messages and electronic mapping technology, “SMS for Life” can enable a more efficient system for tracking and managing medical supplies.

Earlier this week we blogged about other breakthroughs in using cell phones to help fight poverty and disease, something that’s becoming more and more of a trend. Check out “SMS for Life”s website here, and check back on the ONE Blog for further developments on this front.

A new campaign to combat malaria is launching in the UK today – and ONE is part of it. United Against Malaria brings us together with Comic Relief and Malaria No More as well as a team of football stars, celebrities, foundations and corporations. The campaign is setting its sights on the FIFA World Cup next July and the goal is for everyone in Africa to have access to mosquito nets and malaria nets by 2010.

We’ve chosen today to start talking about the campaign as it’s the day that the England football team play Croatia in a World Cup qualifying match. There will be a more formal launch in November.

-Helen Palmer

The month of August has seen two important scientific discoveries, including a new strain of HIV found in humans, and the identification of malaria’s origins.

As reported in the weekly journal Nature Medicine, scientists have discovered a new strain of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), and have linked its origins to gorillas. The other three known variants of HIV have all been linked to chimpanzees. Scientists believe the new virus was probably transmitted from gorillas to humans through the handling or eating of ape meat, though it could have been transmitted from chimpanzees to gorillas, and then to humans (or directly to humans and then gorillas).

Additionally, research on malaria’s origins by a team of scientists was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers identified chimpanzees as the source of the P. falciparum malaria parasite which entered the human population approximately 10,000 years ago via mosquitoes. Researchers emphasized the importance of understanding the origin and genetic behavior of pathogens like malaria, especially when trying to create a vaccine.

These discoveries are part of the continuous effort to monitor how viruses and parasites jump from species to species and emerge in human populations. If emerging infectious diseases are detected early enough, hopefully pandemics can be prevented.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard

Check out this blog post from our friends at Malaria No More

Recently, I traveled to Los Angeles for the first match of FC Barcelona’s summer tour, played against Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy. Although the teams were competitors on the field (Barça won 2-1 after an intense match!) they came together to show their commitment to a common cause: the fight against malaria.

On Friday evening, the LA Galaxy and AEG hosted a dinner to welcome FC Barcelona to the States and highlighted soccer’s leadership in ending malaria deaths through the United Against Malaria campaign.

FC Barcelona and Major League Soccer have battled malaria off the field for a long time. Now, with the same “goal” of kicking malaria off the field for good, soccer teams and malaria organizations are teaming up for United Against Malaria, an initiative to shine a spotlight on the malaria crisis in Africa during the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup—the first World Cup on African soil.

At the event, United Against Malaria welcomed Tim Leiweke (President and CEO of AEG), Don Garber (Commissioner of Major League Soccer) and Joan Laporta (President of FC Barcelona) as United Against Malaria Champions. In addition, LA Galaxy superstar Landon Donovan, considered the best soccer player ever produced by the United States, announced that he will be a Captain, or leading spokesman of the United Against Malaria team. Tim and Don surprised everyone by announcing a $25,000 donation to the fight against malaria as a welcome gift to FC Barcelona.

During the match, a United Against Malaria video played for the crowd of 90,000 and FC Barcelona wore special United Against Malaria jerseys onto the field to help spread the word.

The soccer community is rallying to end malaria deaths—will you join the winning team?

United Against Malaria Presentation from United Against Malaria on Vimeo.

-Emily Bergantino, Malaria No More

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced today that it has helped put 2.3 million people on life-saving treatment for HIV/AIDS (a 31 percent increase over results reported last year), treated 5.4 million people for tuberculosis (a 38 percent increase over last year), and distributed 88 million insecticide-treated bed nets (a 49 percent increase from this time last year) to protect against malaria since it was created eight years ago.

These inspiring results constitute 30-50 percent increases in treatment and prevention measures in just one year. As Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, commented, “In less than eight years, the Global Fund has gone from a concept to a driver of change.”

The Global Fund’s latest results attest to its effectiveness in the prevention and treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. It is imperative that the $3 billion funding shortfall currently facing the partnership is filled by donors.

To learn more about the Global Fund’s impact, read their press release here.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard

The Government of Uganda announced that they will import 17.4 million bed nets in an attempt to combat malaria, the number one cause of death in the country. With plans to start distribution in September, the Ugandan Ministry of Primary Health Care hopes to eventually provide every Ugandan with a free, insecticide-treated bed net.

With the new imports, in addition to the six million nets that have already been distributed in the past three years, the State Minister for Primary Health Care James Kakooza estimates that there will be enough nets for every two people to share one. Priority will first go to pregnant women and children but the Ministry aims to eventually reach all citizens.

According to allAfrica.com, the Ugandan government spends 10% of their annual health budget on managing malaria. In addition to net coverage, the Government has already approved DDT spraying to further combat the spread of the disease. The health ministry aims to emulate the progress of other malaria-stricken countries some of which have made remarkable strides in reducing malaria illness and deaths in recent years through expansion of prevention and treatment initiatives. “We can also do it here in Uganda,” explained Kakooza, “It is just a matter of time.”

Malaria remains the leading cause of death and illness in Uganda. According to the Ugandan health ministry, it kills 320 people a day and accounts for approximately 40% of outpatient visits to health care facilities and 20% of admissions to the hospital.

Malaria plagues not only the country’s health but also its productivity. Health minister Stephen Mallinga noted that Uganda, along with many other African countries, is lagging behind as a result of malaria, which can be a significant cause of poverty. In addition to improving the health of the country, eradicating malaria would increase work capacity and alleviate poverty, further propelling the country toward development.

-Pooja Gupta